Quotes

[on working with Mark Consuelos]: Mark's a great guy, great charisma, positive energy ... I can't believe nobody snatched him up yet to host. People feel very relaxed & at ease around him.

[on the interaction of kids when hosting Endurance (2002)]: I'm there all day, everyday. You know, I host the show, I created it, I produce it, edit it - I'm there. And I take it seriously. This is not summer camp, this is not party time - I'm pushing [these] kids to get something valuable from the several weeks they're going to spend with us. Otherwise, anyone can just make a TV show.

[When he worked as a game show host, before being promoted as a television producer]: It was luck really! The first show I pitched was bought. I had no idea it would turn into the monster that it is. I've produced shows like The Biggest Loser (2004) and Beauty and the Geek (2005). I'm grateful that it has turned out the way it has. All I wanted was to make shows I liked & would watch.

[on how he compares Age of Love (2007) to For Love or Money (2003)]: We're going to have a group of 40 year olds who arrive. They're going to get in the elevator and they're living on the 40th floor. And we have a group of 20-year olds who arrive and they live on the 20th floor. And our bachelor is living in between them. So we have the first relationship style show where the bachelor is actually living amongst the women. They can go down and visit if they want to because he's right there. Typically on a show, like I created For Love or Money (2003), you bring that bachelor and it's like they haven't seen a human being for a long time. But he's going to be around them a lot more.

[on reality TV hosts who didn't quite understand the producing side of it]: There's also robo-hosts. They have an earpiece in their ear, and we tell them what to say. Finding guys who actually know how to do it is hard. Needle in a haystack. I remember the first season of 'Survivor,' we [Roth and Probst] met for breakfast and he said, 'Man, I don't know how long I'm gonna do this.' And I remember leaning into the breakfast table and almost grabbing him by the shirt and saying, 'If they have to wheel you out in your wheelchair 25 years from now, you stay with it.'

[on how many times a weight loss reality show has been a controversial show, including The Biggest Loser (2004)]: They're only controversial once. 'Biggest Loser' was very controversial when it came out. I had to defend myself on Entertainment Tonight (1981) to the Fat Women's Association of America. They hadn't even seen the show yet and they were mad.

'Idol' is like the Death Star of television. It approaches over television and just hovers there and we all stand in the darkness trying to hold on.

It's not the most natural tie-in. But it's a great way to raise awareness of obesity while making viewers aware of millions of people who can't put food on their table.

[on The Big Fat Truth (2017)]: I feel badly that some people from the show went back to some bad decision making patterns and gained the weight back, and felt ashamed. Here they are, they won the lottery and got on the show and lost all the weight and then gained it back

[Of Marc Summers]: Marc is the father figure host. I'm just the big brother who happens to know the rules. I'm not in a suit and tie (Summers wears jeans, jacket and tie), I'm in jams and a T-shirt.

Money isn't everything. Money can buy you things. It makes the meals better. But the bottom line is, you have to be satisfied with yourself.

For the last 15 years, I've been kind of at the forefront of the weight loss genre in television, and I love it. I love watching people transform in front of my eyes, I love watching the human spirit take hold, and watching a person find themselves again. It's always been about more than weight loss.